6-Ingredient Chinese Chicken: Easy Chinese Chicken Recipes for Dinner with Few Ingredients (2024)

FAQs

What is the most popular Chinese chicken dish? ›

General Tso's Chicken is a popular Chinese chicken dish that consists of deep-fried battered chicken pieces coated in a sweet and savory sauce. The dish is known for its bold flavors and crispy texture, making it a favorite among many Chinese food enthusiasts.

In Chinese cooking, proteins like beef, pork or chicken are velveted first before stir-frying them. There are several ways to velvet, but at its most basic level, it involves marinating meat with at least one ingredient that will make it alkaline. This is what tenderizes the meat, especially cheaper, tougher cuts.

Sweet and sour chicken, one of the most popular Chinese takeout dishes, is made of puffy, golden brown pieces of fried chicken nuggets with pineapple chunks, onion, bell pepper, carrot, and a side of iconic red, sweet and sour sauce.

Imperial Chicken is typically prepared by poaching a whole chicken in a flavorful broth infused with Chinese herbs and spices. After cooking, the chicken is deboned and cut into bite-sized pieces. It is then served cold or at room temperature, often garnished with fresh herbs and accompanied by a dipping sauce.

Velveting meat is a Chinese cooking technique used in Chinese restaurants. The process of velveting is one where you marinate raw meat in cornstarch and egg white or bicarbonate of soda to give it a soft, slippery, velvety texture.

While cornstarch is used in China, many Chinese cooks also cook with tapioca starch. In the West, cornstarch is more readily available and generally preferred. The reason why cornstarch is so common is that it adds that perfectly silky texture to stir fries, soups, and sauces synonymous with great Chinese food.

Low and slow cooking methods like braising, stewing, or smoking are most effective when trying to create tender, succulent chicken.

In a medium saucepan, combine pineapple juice, rice vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, and soy sauce and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in cornstarch slurry and cook until thickened, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

As we've already mentioned, sweet and sour dishes do actually exist in China. (Unlike other Chinese American dishes like General Tso's Chicken or Chop Suey.) However, it is a dish that has been heavily Americanized as well. Many sweet and sour sauces here in the U.S. are much sweeter than the Chinese version.

What is black chicken in Chinese food? ›

These Silkie chickens have black flesh and bones and white feathers. Silkie chickens are frequently seen in China, India, and Southeast Asia. Black chickens are slightly gamier in flavor compared to the more common varieties of chickens because they are typically free-range.

White cut chicken or white sliced chicken (traditional Chinese: 白切雞; simplified Chinese: 白切鸡) is a type of siu mei. Unlike most other meats in the siu mei category, this particular dish is not roasted, but steamed. The dish is common to the cultures of Southern China, including Guangdong, Fujian and Hong Kong.